Comments on: McCain Pressured On Troop-Benefit Bills

Washington Post: Veteran Groups Want Senator/Candidate To Support Aid Boost

[starleo146]

pg12
What happens from here is a scene from The Dirty Dozen -- or the last years of Vietnam -- writ large. Faced with battalions of armed misfits -- including a large number of sociopaths for whom punishment is meaningless -- officers can''t hold down the fort. The result is anarchy, followed by the rise of internal drug-running gangs, racist militias, God squads of fundamentalist holy warriors, and other assorted warlords. (Some of these have close ties to existing civilian organizations such as prison gangs, white supremacist militias and far-right dominionist groups -- as if any of these groups need to have their own government-trained army units.) Unit cohesion fails as these groups go freelance and compete for control of military resources. Fragging becomes common; and good officers become much harder to find. (Anybody with a college education will find something better and safer to do.) The goal of teaching them useful civilian life skills is quickly abandoned.

[starleo146]

p11
What lies ahead

What follows is a scenario -- a little concatenation of what-if stories about what could happen if America breaks its historical pact of guaranteeing education, healthcare, and a middle-class future to its service men and women. It''s not a prediction. It''s just a look at some of the ways McCain''s new view of what we owe our troops could play out if we don''t change course.

Inside the military

As kids with any kind of prospects at all flee from recruiters who have nothing left to offer them, the sliding standards of the past few years become a fast tumble to the bottom. Soon, America''s military is nothing more than the employer of last resort. It''s society''s dumping ground for people with inadequate education, drug problems, criminal records, and unaddressed behavior issues -- people who can''t even hold down McJobs and for whom going to war and getting shot at is a marginally better choice to going to jail and getting knifed.

Wh

[starleo146]

pg10
Maybe McCain figures that this new crop of kids isn''t all that interested in college anyway. Maybe he''s decided that down here, with the bottom of the barrel coming into sight, we''re getting the kids for whom the military isn''t a ticket to college, or a way out of anything. It''s just a better alternative than a lifetime of unemployment -- or worse, cycling in and out of jail. And maybe he''s being a realist about that. It''s certainly where we seem to be headed.

But we don''t have to go there. And if we think this all the way through, we''ll do whatever it takes not to go there. Because if McCain is serious about stripping away the barest promise of benefits and turning America''s high-tech army into a dumping ground for the country''s undereducated, precriminal, behaviorally unstable and economically desperate -- then there''s another possible future looming, and it''s the stuff of our worst nightmares.

[starleo146]

pg9
Predictably, the number of volunteers has fallen off markedly in the Bush era, as the war has dramatically raised the risks associated with service, and the promised benefits have vanished. Working-class kids may not have many prospects left; but they can do the math, and they''re staying away in droves. To keep the warm bodies coming, the military has begun to compromise on quality. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the number of new recruits coming in on conduct waivers is up. So is the number of convicted felons, gang members, avowed racists and people with substance abuse problems. The military is increasingly turning a blind eye to soldier misconduct, because it can''t afford to lose the boots -- so racist activity, rape, and other criminal acts are going largely unpunished.

[starleo146]

pg8
The brass also knew from the start that going all-volunteer would increase the class divisions in the military. The bulk of those new recruits -- both noncoms and officers -- would be kids from working-class families looking for a shot at college. As the conservatives cut back on government-backed college grants and loans, the GI Bill and ROTC would step up to become the country''s new college-aid programs. Given that this realignment happened alongside the retooling of a new high-tech military that required an extremely skilled and disciplined corps to function, this new model wouldn''t work -- couldn''t work -- unless the benefits and working conditions were good enough to attract a huge flow of smart, stable, high-quality volunteers.

[starleo146]

pg7
Generous GI benefits became even more important in the aftermath of Vietnam, as the country abandoned the draft in favor of an all-volunteer army. The country''s war hawks approved of this move: The Vietnam-era draft had touched every family in America regardless of class; and it was the middle and upper-middle classes'' unwillingness to consent to that sacrifice that had so forcefully politicized the war. A military comprising troops who''d voluntarily agreed to be there would not only be easier to discipline and manage; they''d be much easier to deploy without creating major political upheavals.

[starleo146]

p6
With the GI Bill, America democratized this ancient deal. It guaranteed that same shot at a solid middle-class life to everyone who signed up and did their tour, regardless of what their service entailed (and, in doing so, also somewhat reduced the incentive for ambitious soldiers to secure their civilian futures by instigating unnecessary battles. Combat hero or clerk typist, you were part of the effort, and you''d still get yours.). In a country that had usually resisted the very idea of raising a standing army, the GI Bill fostered the new post-war military industrial complex by normalizing military service. It was the deal that allowed families to send their sons (and later, their daughters) off in the belief that the military would open the doors to a better life. It was also the sugar that -- for a while, anyway -- took some of the bitterness from universal conscription.

[starleo146]

p5
McCain makes it clear that he wants to make the GI Bill so weak and useless that troops will have no choice but to stay in the military for life. Friedman argues persuasively that this is not only a breach of a sacred trust Americans have upheld with their troops for over 60 years; it''s also a slap in the face to military recruiters, who ask families to give up their children to the war machine -- and now have nothing compelling to offer them in return. And in the long run, it ensures that the military will become the career of last resort for those who have no other options. Reading this, it strikes me that, as usual, the conservatives aren''t being nearly careful enough about what they wish for. In fact, it''s not hard at all to imagine a scenario in which this new relationship to our military -- which forsakes the last vestiges of America''s traditional civilian militias and creates a new class of involuntarily indentured permanent soldiers -- creates far-flung changes that may undermine the stability of our democracy.

[starleo146]

pg4
McCain makes it clear that he wants to make the GI Bill so weak and useless that troops will have no choice but to stay in the military for life. Friedman argues persuasively that this is not only a breach of a sacred trust Americans have upheld with their troops for over 60 years; it''s also a slap in the face to military recruiters, who ask families to give up their children to the war machine -- and now have nothing compelling to offer them in return. And in the long run, it ensures that the military will become the career of last resort for those who have no other options. Reading this, it strikes me that, as usual, the conservatives aren''t being nearly careful enough about what they wish for. In fact, it''s not hard at all to imagine a scenario in which this new relationship to our military -- which forsakes the last vestiges of America''s traditional civilian militias and creates a new class of involuntarily indentured permanent soldiers -- creates far-flung changes that may undermine the stability of our democracy.

[starleo146]

pg3
Jim Webb has been trying to update the GI Bill to restore its original intention -- which was to reward returning vets for their service by giving them a full education, lifetime healthcare, and the foundations on which to build a comfortable and successful civilian life. But, says Friedman, the Cons have apparently abandoned that noble goal. And in doing so, they''re unveiling an entirely different vision of our troops'' future relationship to the rest of America.